Since the inception of Literacy Day, it has been widely supported and encouraged by many countries, organizations and institutes. Some of the supporters and initiative takers of Literacy Day and the move for education are:
Literacy Initiative (LIFE) (2005-2015)
LIFE, UNESCO’s literacy Initiative for empowerment is
- Framework that defines strategies for the activities under the United Nations Literary Decade(2003-2012) to achieve “Education for all” (EFA) mission. The activities will specially focus on the adult-education and children out-of-school. Although there were many measures taken to achieve the target of increasing the literacy day by 50 %, they were still not enough, and thus, this initiative called LIFE was suggested.
- The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is coordinating LIFE.
Participating countries are:
- Asia and the Pacific: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea;
- Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone;
- Arab States: Egypt, Iraq, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen;
- Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil and Haiti.
The immediate objectives of LIFE are:
- To reinforce the national and international commitment to literacy through advocacy and communication;
- To support the articulation of policies for sustainable literacy within sector-wide and national development frameworks:
- To strengthen national capacities for programme design, management and implementation;
- To enhance countries innovative initiatives and practices in providing literacy learning opportunities.
Education for All
This literary initiative was started by UNESCO, which was meant to provide literacy needs for all ages till 2015. Ten important things about EFA:
- EFA is a right: Since1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “everyone has the right to education” (Article 26), UNESCO has maintained that obtaining education is not a matter of chance and situations it is a “right.
- EFA is everyone’s concern: Time to time different countries and organizations have come together to realize the importance for cooperated efforts and need for literacy.
- EFA is a development imperative: A world of peace, dignity, justice and equality depends on many factors – education is central among them. Literacy is central to a more healthy and developed society as an educated individual is more probable to take informed choices and decisions.
- EFA really is FOR ALL: As a matter of fact still there are lots of discriminations even in the field of education. It is noticed that girls, rural kids, street children, underprivileged children are more in number when it comes to illiteracy. Thus, literacy cannot attain its goal without developing a strategic plan.
- EFA is for all ages and in all settings: According to EFA , it is never too late to learn and never too early to start.
- EFA means inclusive quality learning: Quality learning is one that makes one’s living more sophisticated and easier. The curriculum, teaching procedure and various other factors come into play to define a quality Education.
- EFA is making remarkable progress: With many activities under EFA, secondary students has risen substantially, public spending on education has increased, number of secondary students has risen substantially, more girls are enrolled than ever before and many more areas have shown progressive growth.
- EFA still faces many challenges: According to recent calculations, approximately 75 million children are still not enrolled in school and an estimated 776 million adults (16% of the world’s population) have not yet had the opportunity to learn to read and write.
- EFA needs support from everyone: For a goal as large as EFA, the progress is not possible until and unless political, technical and economic support is provided from all the participating entities.
- EFA has a multiplier effect: Education does not only influence the lives of an individual but also simultaneously affect the lives of corresponding families, society and organizations.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (India)
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a pioneer program that was started under the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The main aim of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is to provide elementary education to all children in the 6-14 years of age-group. The same has been mentioned in the 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children of ages 6-14. Under SSA, many areas which do not have the facility of schools or with inadequate infrastructure have been provided with additional teachers, ladies staff, clerical staff and conveyance facilities.
Other initiatives taken:
- The Writers for Literacy Initiative : Various writers from across the world took up the cause of education and emphasized the need of written knowledge. Some of the writers are: Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Philippe Claudel, Paulo Coelho, Philippe Delerm, Fatou Diome, Chahdortt Djavann, Nadine Gordimer, Amitav Ghosh, Marc Levy, Alberto Manguel, Anna Moi, Scott Momaday, Toni Morrison, Erik Orsenna, Gisèle Pineau, El Tayeb Salih, Francisco Jose Sionil, Wole Soyinka, Amy Tan, Miklós Vámos, Abdourahman Waberi, Wei Wei, Banana Yoshimoto.
- Companies/Organizations: Apart from the writers there are many charitable and non-charitable organizations those are fighting against the cause of illiteracy.
- Contributions of Montblanc: This company is into manufacturing of handwriting instruments and since many years has been supporting UNESCO’s mission by providing underprivileged children with means of education. Also, on international literacy day’2009, Montblanc will auction 12 portraits of famous figures to raise money for the education of underprivileged children,
